Amazon Unveils Four New Smart‑Home Gadgets, From Alarm Clock to 3D Home Map
Amazon rolled out a $200 Echo Time alarm clock, a $230 Alexa Photo Frame, a refreshed Echo Show 16, and an Alexa Home Map that visualises your property in 3D.
New Bedside Companion: Echo Time
The Echo Time arrives as a rounded speaker with a display, deliberately omitting a camera. Priced at $200, it replaces the Echo Spot and adds smart‑home hub capabilities, supporting Zigbee, Matter and acting as a Thread border router. Amazon markets it as the “smartest combination of alarm clock and hub” available.
Digital Photo Frame Gets Alexa
Amazon’s first Alexa‑enabled photo frame, the Alexa Photo Frame, costs $230 and is already for sale. It features a 10.1‑inch matte screen and three finish options—Birch, Walnut and Black. Users can cycle through personal photos, search for specific images by voice, and record voice notes attached to individual pictures.
Echo Line Refreshes
The company also announced upgrades across its Echo portfolio. A redesigned Echo Show 16 now carries a $500 price tag and is available for preorder with shipments slated for mid‑December. A new Echo Dot joins the lineup, and an upgraded Echo Studio now includes a built‑in Home Camera, priced at $250.
Alexa Home Map: A 3D View of Your Property
Amazon’s latest software feature, the Alexa Home Map, lets users generate a three‑dimensional, interactive map of both interior and exterior spaces. The map provides floor navigation, room zoom, and real‑time device control. Unlike the earlier Map View, which only displayed indoor devices, the Home Map offers a 360‑degree aerial perspective using Ring cameras to animate people and cars in the yard.
The feature also incorporates the Familiar Faces AI‑powered facial recognition system, which identifies and stores faces to alert users when known individuals appear. This capability has sparked privacy concerns and is currently the subject of at least one lawsuit.
